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Moonlite
- The Tragic Love Story of Captain Moonlite and the Bloody End of the Bushrangers
- Narrated by: Ryan Corr
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Categories: History, Australia, New Zealand & Oceania
Non-member price: $27.95
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Publisher's Summary
Charismatic, intelligent and handsome, George Scott is unlike any other bushranger. Born into a privileged life in famine-wracked Ireland, Scott's family loses its fortune and is forced to flee to New Zealand. There, Scott joins the local militia and fights as a soldier against the Maori in the brutal New Zealand wars.
After recovering from a series of serious gunshot wounds, he sails to Australia and becomes a Lay Preacher, captivating churchgoers with his fiery and inspiring sermons.
But Scott is also prone to bursts of madness. The local villagers back in Ireland often whispered that a 'wild drop' ran in the blood of the Scott family. One night he dons a mask in a small country town, arms himself with a gun and, dubbing himself Captain Moonlite, brazenly robs a bank before staging one of the country's most audacious jailbreaks.
After falling in love with fellow prisoner James Nesbitt, a boyish petty criminal desperately searching for a father figure, Scott finds himself unable to shrug off his criminal past.
Pursued and harassed by the police, he stages a dramatic siege and prepares for a final showdown with the law - and a macabre executioner without a nose.
Meticulously researched and drawing on previously unpublished material, Moonlite is a work of non-fiction that sounds like a novel.
Told at a cracking pace and based on many of the extensive letters Scott wrote from his death cell, Moonlite is set amid the violent and sexually repressed era of Australia in the second half of the 19th century.
With a cast of remarkable characters, it weaves together the extraordinary lives of our bushrangers and the desperation of a young nation eager to remove the stains of its convict past.
But most of all, Moonlite is a tragic love story.
For these are the dying days of the bushrangers, and Captain Moonlite is about to make his last stand.
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What listeners say about Moonlite
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Peter Smith
- 22-01-2021
Australian History
A narrator can either enhance a good story or can make it a hard listen. In this case it is a hard listen.
It was an interesting story of Bushrangers that we generally don't get to hear about. I look forward to more books about the lesser known characters of Australia.
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- Leland Fraser
- 19-01-2021
Fantastically well done
I thoroughly enjoyed this Audiobook. I'll admit that Australian history is not my usual thing, so I was surprised how much this really drew me in. It's beautifully written, in parts it almost feels like an exciting novel! And of course the fascinating subject matter and cast of characters turned out to be quite gripping. Lastly I have to say the narration by Ryan Corr is just so good. Spectacular really. Not just a pleasant sounding voice, an all round perfect reading which brings things to life and takes it to an even higher level. Highly recommended in Audiobook form.
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- Kaye Mc Garry
- 16-12-2020
Headline: Skillfully crafted and narrated
I remember my grade 3 teacher reading our class a story about Captain Moonlite. Of course, it was a child’s book, but the similarities between that children’s version and Linnell’s of the fascinating paradox that is Captain Moonlite are marked. Linnell’s impeccably researched recount of the life of George Scott is told within a broader context of that criminal era in Australia and delves into the political and social climate of the time. The first few digressions into other stories threw me, but what seemed initially to be solitary patches, albeit each beautifully crafted, came skillfully together as a complete, intricate piece. When the story is over, there is a gem proffered in the Afterword, where what Linnell has teased out throughout the course of the Moonlite story is revisited through a fascinating, condensed discourse.
Corr’s narration feels perfectly in sync with the writer’s sense of pace. He keeps the listener engaged and wanting to hear the next chapter. Moreover, his vocal characterisation of Scott adds a realism that makes the listener feel they have a personal insight into this man. Such an intricate story as this can potentially cause confusion, with its myriad of characters and locations, but Corr’s narration maintains clarity of characters and settings, so there is never any need to go back over something.
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- Libbie R.
- 03-12-2020
Testing Only
A gay bushranger with a love of poetry and guns. A grotesque hangman with a passion for flowers and gardening. One night he dons a mask in a small country town, arms himself with a gun and, dubbing himself Captain Moonlite, brazenly robs a bank before staging one of the country's most audacious jailbreaks. ...Sep 29, 2020
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